The Paranoia Parameter
adamjuliangoldstein.com
The Paranoia Parameter
1–9 of 9 posts
Re: The Paranoia Parameter
#2Fascinating. People with PTSD (of whatever variety) are hypervigilant - not much fun but good for survival
Re: The Paranoia Parameter
#3From a medical perspective this is quite a hand-wavy fever dream interpretation of the immune system and psychology/psychiatry. It’s like saying you should use python instead of rust because it’s syntax more appropriately recapitulates the essence of human neural connectedness (or whatever). There are many types of paranoia (not one dimensional) and they don’t seem to all be trainable.
Re: The Paranoia Parameter
#4From a medical perspective this is quite a hand-wavy fever dream interpretation of the immune system and psychology/psychiatry. It’s like saying you should use python instead of rust because it’s syntax more appropriately recapitulates the essence of human neural connectedness (or whatever). There are many types of paranoia (not one dimensional) and they don’t seem to all be trainable.
On second thought, I do appreciate fever dream interpretations of things as an intellectual challenge and really enjoyed reading the article.
Re: The Paranoia Parameter
#5The author doesn't mention, in "Mental Vaccination", the possibility of learning from other people's experiences, or perhaps from accurately simulated experiences. That seems to me like the best way to mentally vaccinate: gaining the lessons through something other than the hard way.
Re: The Paranoia Parameter
#6This is BS. You can be aware of existential threats, and respond to them appropriately without feeling the slightest bit anxious or paranoid. It's called planning.
The personal founder experience related here has value, but trying to create this big theory of psychology from it is not helpful, nor are the extraordinarily tenuous links to panic buying and immunology.
edit: This comment reads quite aggressively, which was not my intent. I just want to provide a counterpoint because I don't believe the central thesis is correct, as it runs counter to my experience. Someone might still find it helpful as a model though.
I guess the more you know, the more threats you can perceive, so at some point you just have to turn the limbic system off. The amygdala is not yet compatible with Wikipedia. i.e. there are existential threats that make the COVID-19 crisis seem like a picnic, but if we can't do anything to mitigate them, why worry?
Re: The Paranoia Parameter
#7The author doesn't mention, in "Mental Vaccination", the possibility of learning from other people's experiences, or perhaps from accurately simulated experiences. That seems to me like the best way to mentally vaccinate: gaining the lessons through something other than the hard way.
That's what the next essay is about: how to move the Paranoia Line
Re: The Paranoia Parameter
#8This is BS. You can be aware of existential threats, and respond to them appropriately without feeling the slightest bit anxious or paranoid. It's called planning. The personal founder experience related here has value, but trying to create this big theory of psychology from it is not helpful, nor are the extraordinarily tenuous links to panic buying and immunology. edit: This comment reads quite aggressively, which…
If you are able to deal with existential threats without "feeling the slightest bit anxious or paranoid," you are very fortunate and not the intended audience :)
I agree, however, that planning is often helpful for reducing anxiety, insofar as it reduces uncertainty.
Re: The Paranoia Parameter
#9From a medical perspective this is quite a hand-wavy fever dream interpretation of the immune system and psychology/psychiatry. It’s like saying you should use python instead of rust because it’s syntax more appropriately recapitulates the essence of human neural connectedness (or whatever). There are many types of paranoia (not one dimensional) and they don’t seem to all be trainable.
You'll get no argument here that it's hand-wavy! My goal was to point out that both our immune systems and our minds are imperfect at assessing threats and we can suffer greatly as a result. I'm glad you still found it thought-provoking.